Anyone still smoke?

[Slew Foot]

one of the best things about living in CA. smoking is banned pretty much evrywhere in public and smokers are treated like the assholes they are.

 

[MrDudeMan]

But what you don't seem to get is that I was never really at odds with your opinion for the most part. But, you said comparing smoking to cars isn't valid, missed the point that was being made, and have been firing stupidity from the hip ever since.

Point being, that it seems only smokers (and the obese) are held to such standards, but people make unhealthy choices that are often not the most 'green' all the time. Choices that can and do have some negative effect on those around that person. Should we look down on people who BBQ? Should we look down on someone who owns a car that gets less than 40 mpg? Should we look down on those who would eat an unhealthy lunch at McD's?

I didn't miss the point. I gave you several reasons it's an invalid comparison. You just didn't understand them (and still don't). Smoking, a purely optional behavior with no function, is completely unrelated to driving a car, a usually non-optional behavior with a very specific and necessary function. That is literally the end of the comparison because nothing else matters after that.

The reason fatties and smokers are held to this standard is because they're making choices that hurt themselves and usually some collateral damage to others (health insurance costs, for example). You're right that people make bad choices all over the place all the time - a point I still agree with.

Should we look down on people who BBQ?

It depends. They're still making food, which is necessary, and some ways are better than others. This still makes it better than smoking in every possible way, but I think people should engage in cleaner ways to cook food if that's what you're really asking.

Should we look down on someone who owns a car that gets less than 40 mpg?

With no context, it's impossible to answer this. 40 is also too high, but if you said 20 I would agree as long as the person didn't have a specific business need.

Should we look down on those who would eat an unhealthy lunch at McD's?

Absolutely yes. I eat there once or twice a year and I would never try to defend that practice. I like it so I do it, which is the point you're falsely trying to make about smoking. If you smoked once or twice a year, you wouldn't be a smoker. If you eat mcdonalds every day, you'd be a 'smoker' and yes you would deserve a social stigma because that's fucking nasty and unhealthy. However, eating at mcdonalds can still be handled in a way that doesn't influence others nearly as much as smoking because the deleterious effects of mcdonalds can be mitigated with exercise. Smoking is pretty hard to counteract.

Notice I didn't say you should be barred from choosing to eat at mcdonalds because I think you should maintain your right to choose to do that.

 

[crownjules]

I enjoy cigars on a regular basis. Going to have one right now in fact.

 

[MrDudeMan]

one of the best things about living in CA. smoking is banned pretty much evrywhere in public and smokers are treated like the assholes they are.

Colorado has a similar outlook on smokers. I rarely ran into one regardless of where I was including bars. I'll never forget the time I saw a smoker near the summit of Pike's Peak because it was the first smoker I saw in Colorado and we were on top of a mountain, which is generally aerobically challenging. I talked to the guy about it briefly and we had a good laugh.

 

[rsbennett00]

All of these comparisons are completely ridiculous. It's like the people that complain about CVS no longer selling tobacco and saying they should no longer sell twinkies because those are also unhealthy. If I eat a twinkie right beside you, you don't get fat. If you light up, I feel like you just put a plastic bag over my head AND I get cancer.

Yes, there are a lot of carcinogens in the world today but I'm not putting my lips to a tailpipe either.

 

[Oyeve]

I smoke, if my smoke bothers you leave the f*cking city.

 

[SlowSpyder]

snip

I do understand your point, I don't agree with it. There is a difference. We can argue about the practical uses and pros/cons about cars, but it really doesn't matter. The point is there are cleaner and healthier options for most people. There are cars that exist for no practical reason other than there are people who will buy it. There are cleaner and healthier options compared to smoking. Like you say about yourself, I really don't care what people do. If the affect on other people is minimal, I really don't care what someone else does when making choices for their body.

All of these comparisons are completely ridiculous. It's like the people that complain about CVS no longer selling tobacco and saying they should no longer sell twinkies because those are also unhealthy. If I eat a twinkie right beside you, you don't get fat. If you light up, I feel like you just put a plastic bag over my head AND I get cancer.

Yes, there are a lot of carcinogens in the world today but I'm not putting my lips to a tailpipe either.

If people were forcing you to breathe their second hand smoke, I'd agree. But seeing as smoking is banned in most places (something I agree with) and I assume you don't let people smoke in your home, I guess I don't get it.

 

[heathersweater]

Vices makes life better. What's better than blowing out clouds of smoke and watching it disperse?

 

[rsbennett00]

If people were forcing you to breathe their second hand smoke, I'd agree. But seeing as smoking is banned in most places (something I agree with) and I assume you don't let people smoke in your home, I guess I don't get it.

That's why we don't hire them. It's in their clothes, in their mouths, in their lungs.

 

[SlowSpyder]

That's why we don't hire them. It's in their clothes, in their mouths, in their lungs.

Depending on your line of work that may make some practical sense. Even if it doesn't really, that's the right of the owner of the company.

 

[Wuzup101]

So from what I've read in this thread, if a smoker sees this question on a job application, they should simply lie.

I smoked a bit when I was in college and a bit after. Haven't smoked in a few years. Do still enjoy a good cigar every once in a while. I would answer "No" to the original question and would never tell you about my "smoking" past.

 

[surfsatwerk]

So from what I've read in this thread, if a smoker sees this question on a job application, they should simply lie.

Bingo

 

[Childs]

Smoked for about 14 years. Haven't had a single one in about 12 years. The fact that I still crave them on almost a daily basis reminds me why I never want to have one again. No way I should still be addicted to them like that.

Yeah, even think about while puffing away on my ecig. I fall off the wagon a couple of times a year for like a week or two at a time, especially when on vacation.

As far as company insurance goes, I used to just say no to the smoking question. If I was smoking right in front of a doctor I'd still answer no on the form. Not gonna put me on some leper list. I haven't been to a doctor in over 20 years (knock on wood), and I have 936 hours of sick time accrued, where as most of my coworkers who don't smoke take at least 2-3 weeks of sick time a year.

 

[Markbnj]

This. Mark just saved the HR department the hassle of discovering he's an insufferable toolbag after hiring him.

Well done, Mark :thumbsup:

A thread hasn't really reached the epitomy of trolling uselessness until BikeJunkie jumps in.

 

[Mixolydian]

If I eat a twinkie right beside you, you don't get fat. If you light up, I feel like you just put a plastic bag over my head AND I get cancer.

A person does not get cancer from one cigarette.

 

[Markbnj]

I think you feel slighted by this opinion because you choose to smoke, which isn't my intention. There's some strong language being tossed around simply because this is the internet, but the real point is what we're both stating repeatedly.

No, I don't feel slighted. As I said before none of this affects me. I'll happily lay bare my biases for the world to see: as a general rule I dislike corporations and their reams of policies, and I dislike the people who generate those policies: the directors, the managers, the legions of the useless. I think the average HR person is a massive waste of carbon that could have been fashioned into an implement of some kind. When I see corporations trying to enforce personal behavior through hiring policies I have two reactions: 1) Good for you, you can do what you want; and 2) what a bunch of anal-retentive assholes.

 

[rsbennett00]

What does that have to do with past smoking?

It depends on how past and how much in the past. If someone smoked for 20 years and quit a year ago, that's still 20 years of gunk in their lungs. If someone smoked for one day 20 years ago, then that's not going to matter much now.

 

[rsbennett00]

A person does not get cancer from one cigarette.

But it only takes one plastic bag to kill.

 

[WilliamM2]

So from what I've read in this thread, if a smoker sees this question on a job application, they should simply lie.

And hope whoever is taking the application has no sense of smell...

 

[rsbennett00]

So from what I've read in this thread, if a smoker sees this question on a job application, they should simply lie.

I smoked a bit when I was in college and a bit after. Haven't smoked in a few years. Do still enjoy a good cigar every once in a while. I would answer "No" to the original question and would never tell you about my "smoking" past.

What William said.

Any significant smoking in recent history is detectable, you can't lie about it.

Are smokers seriously in the dark about what it's doing to their lungs? Breathing is pretty much required. Perhaps in some strange case of double lung transplants it could be hidden, but then that person would be way too old for us to hire.

 

[OverVolt]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2509609/

Did you know that Tobacco has a high affinity for Polonium and smoking a pack a day loads you up with radiation?

 

[OutHouse]

I don't know how people afford to smoke. 7.50 a pack is a lot of money.

 

[OutHouse]

Any significant smoking in recent history is detectable, you can't lie about it.

How recent?

 

[OutHouse]

My company tacks on 80 dollars to your monthly health insurance coverage if you smoke.

 

[rsbennett00]

How recent?

I'm not sure and it depends on severity of smoking. In the past couple years, only one woman lied and got past our noses but I could taste it in her mouth. We threw her out too fast to ask for details about her lies.